Rachel Roth

Vision smiled softly and shrugged. “Well, socializing is difficult for me, because I don’t usually understand the references or jokes that people make,” he said. “I was learning them, but then I died. Again.” He smiled brightly. “I like to watch television,” he said. “It helps me to learn about pop culture. Which is rather a lot, you know.” 

“You sound like my friend Damian. Maybe I should check if he’s a robot. Is robot okay to say?” she asked. She didn’t want to offend him after all. “What’s your favorite show to watch?” she asked. “I’m really into like murder mystery shows unsurprisingly. It’s funny watching the people make all this fake ghost content. Real ghosts can’t STAND it” she chuckled.

“fun, what is that? sounds like an archaic option. especially here in gotham.” good natured sarcasm laced her words. nora knew fun scarcely existed in gotham where the sky was perpetually dark and it was always a ‘not good’ time. not to mention her own kind of fun was a bit different then the usual type. then again she could play the right part for a while, see where it got her. she was curious how everyone partied in the past. “why would i have a problem with that?” nora played off, unwilling to go into the unnamed subject m. 

“Oh is that what we’re doing? We’re pretending like the reason you came was to support me and has nothing to do with the fact that you’re lowkey stalking your crush. Okay cool.” Maxine said shrugging. “Alright there’s nothing wrong with like combining thanksgiving and Halloween in November right? I mean not like most of us can go see out families anyway. My mom would probably think I was a Loa come to trick her.”

.

     Damian’s head shot up, confusion clear on his face when he was met with an invitation to come in rather than the door slamming in his face that he’d been expecting. “How is she?” he asked, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. He and Yara fought constantly, but Damian would go to great lengths for her without her even asking. He cared for her in his own way. “And, I mean, how are you?” he frowned. They hadn’t really had a chance to talk since she’d gotten here given how angry she’d been.

“I’m too tired to punish you anymore. Can you just come in and not be an asshole ?” she asked him. When he closed the door she moved towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She had missed him, and after watching her sister, she didn’t want any doubt in that. “She’s heart broken. I’ve never seen her cry so much.” Max sighed. “drained.” she muttered before tucking her face in her crook of his neck. She stood there a few moments, before getting off and plopping on her bed. “so what are you doing here?”

Maxine sighed  as Damian stood outside her bedroom door. He was right though. Yara and Jon had broken up their…not-relationship? Either way Yara had spent the whole night crying and though Maxine had no problem being there for her sister, it has drained her mentally. She didn’t have the capacity to keep punishing Damian. Not tonight. “come in” she moved to the side letting him in.

Vision considered. “I have died three times,” he said, and then paused, considering once more. “Four? Yes, I’m sorry, I have died four times.” He smiled faintly as she spoke. “Technically, I am wearing a costume. This is not how I naturally look. But my genuine appearance can be off-putting to some people, considering the societal importance placed on conventional beauty.”

Maxine smirked, lightly punching Vision’s arm. “Oh don’t worry about it. I didn’t mean you Vis. I mean…do you even like to party?” she asked him. It wasn’t like he drank or ate. And she had never seen him dance. “Actually….what do you do for fun?” she questioned as she realized she never seen him really do much of anything.

“sounds like a big old waste if you ask me.” party’s were all sorts of fun after all. dressing up, pretending to be someone else, oh wait that was what half the city did everyday. “then again it’s pretty much halloween here everyday, isn’t it?” if it was anything like it was in the future then for sure it was. she grinned looking over the girl’s costume. “i’m good on costumes,” nora replied. “but i sure like yours and i do like parties.” she looked around. maybe they could begin with reeling in a crowd, or the decorations could be a good first too perhaps. “where do you want to start?” she didn’t have much better to do at the moment so she’d bide her time by partying, or at least starting up one. 

“ugh it’s different. We’re not doing it to hide our identies. It’s for fun. Something this city is servely lacking in.” Max frowned. Max like parties. She was from New Orleans, the party capital of America. If anyone knew how to throw a good party it was her. “You know what fine. I’ll do it myself. Nora, start googling venues.” She delegated. “who should we invite, are you cool if I tell the gang?” Translation? Was it cool to invite Mar’i. 

     Her rejection of the idea was no surprise, really. She was pissed. And rightfully so. He had left. No note, no, well, anything…even Dory might have been angry in her shoes. The decision to leave Maxine behind for her own safety had oddly been one of the few times he and Yara had ever agreed with one another which, in retrospect, should have been his first red flag. It had happened, however, and there was no changing it. There was only making things right now. “…Alright, if you say so…” his tongue peeked out momentarily, gone in a flash as it swiped across his lower lip, an amused smirk growing as their eyes met. 

It was no secret that Damian Wayne often found himself perplexed when it came to trying to understand the plethora of ways in which normal people tended to express their emotions. Anger, however, was one that he understood. Anger was as good in this situation as it was bad. Sure, she was pissed at him, but she also still cared enough to be pissed at him. That gave him hope that he could turn this around somehow. Maybe. “It just means you missed me, hmm?” he teased, raising a brow. “I thought you’d like it here, anyways…”

Maxine flushed when he met her eyes. Of course, she had missed him. Not only had he left her. He left her alone. With the other baby members of the group. She may not have been as seasoned as the rest of them, but she wasn’t a liability. And the fact he considered her one is what hurt more than anything. She pulled her arm back, punching his arm with all her frustration at him. She usually didn’t resort to violence but sometimes it couldn’t be helped. Especially when he was standing there with that totally not attractive smirk. So again, of course she missed him. But that didn’t mean she’d admit it anytime soon. “don’t do that. You don’t get to smirk. And tease.”

Theo’s arms crossed. “One more for good measure,” He retorted dryly. Something was not right, and he knew it for certain. A satisfied vindicated smirk laid at his expression upon her realization. “Consider it a personal favor I don’t say ‘I told you so’.” He watched her approach, a tilt of his head as he watched the interaction at work. Fucking ghosts, what wouldn’t be in Gotham? Next would be Big Foot, “Ey, ask him if he was murdered.” Theo called to her. “I think he looks murdered.”

Theo!” she scolded as she tried to now calm the very worked up spirit. Most times, they had no idea they were dead, forced to replay the last few hours of their lives on repeat. Disturbing that too much is what resulted in violent spirits. The confusion of a never ending in between clouding their thoughts. “it’s going to be okay. Do you remember anything before hand?” she asked them. A few more moments of silence for anyone who wasn’t Max as she listened to them. “Alright…pass on now. I’ll take care of it. Don’t be scared.” Her voice was soft and comforting. A tone she usually saved for the dead. “Mugger. About your height, pulled off his mask and so he...” she stopped looking at the body. “he was on his way back from dropping off his kids at their mom’s. God people are so heartless.”

          Garfield held out the plastic detached arm, a smile spread across his lips as he held it out to her. “C’mon! It was great. Thanks.” He beamed proudly, taking the compliment. “Yes!” Gar grinned excitedly at her before reaching over to grab the ghosts too. They were going all out for decorating this Halloween and he couldn’t have been more excited about it. They had never really decorated the Tower for the holiday before but somehow he had convinced Max to help him do it for the first time telling her it was good for the soul. “Are you reading my mind? I was hoping you’d say that.” He told her, eyeing the card in her hand. It looked like the ones the Bat kids had but he had never been allowed to hold one.

Maxine giggled at his excitement and helped him load the cart with as much as they could. “hmm…we might need another cart. Where are we going to put the candy?” She asked looking at their stuffed one. Maybe they got a little carried away…. oh well. “Have you gotten your costume yet? We can go check some out if not.” She offered. She hadn’t really planned to be going to the past, so she hadn’t brought her along.

“Lucy, for the last time. Beetle juice isn’t real and neither is the candyman. And even though I have powers linked to the dead does not mean I can call upon entities that don’t really exist. You shouldn’t mess with stuff like that anyway. You’re going to mess around and summon a Loa or something!” Maxine shook her head. “How about we do something safe? Like a séance? You love when I do them.”

“That is simultaneously the most idiotic and hilarious thing I’ve seen all day. You really do have a talent.” Maxine shook her head. It was weird to see all these people she knew as adults, being as irresponsible as she and her friends were. Well, except Gar. He really hadn’t changed, even in the next two decades. “Let’s get it. Grab those ghosts too. We may as go all out.” She smirked holding up Damian’s black card. It was the least he could do after abandoning her in the future. Prick.